Tinashe (feat. Chris Brown) – Player

When Tinashe dropped Party Favors, we decided to pass on that track because we really didn’t know what to say about it. It wasn’t awful but it just wasn’t something that we necessarily liked enough to feel more than indifferent to. With Player, there is something becoming very clear about the singer’s latest pay singles–they’re a different voice than her freeleases.

Player reminded us a little of some of the Chris Brown EDM/pop tracks from albums like Exclusive, Graffiti, and Fortune, which likely means that Brown did more than contribute to the vocals and had something to do with either the writing or production. The slow-burning EDM production will definitely garner some radio play due to the fact that it is danceable, but it’s the production that makes it a track that you can forget about almost as soon as you hear it. The entire song feels generic and doesn’t have that stamp that you makes it seem like you’re listening to something that almost anyone could have done. Unlike songs from Aquarius or even her mixtapes like Amethyst or Black Water, there is very little here, beyond the lyrics, that has that Tinashe core. While there is nothing wrong with an artist branching out, it shouldn’t be so much that they lose their distinction.

The saving grace might be the vocals–especially the harmonies–which add flavor to the track and make it more than just something that fades into the background while it’s playing.

Tinashe’s second studio album, Joyride, is expected out sometime in November.